Earlier this week, Seth Godin had a great post entitled "Every Successful Case is Special". It's short -- it will take you 2 minutes to read -- and worth every second. Heck, read it twice.
It is common to think that each successful case was created by a special set of circumstances that was available to them, but not available to you. And as Godin notes, we think that way because we don't see simple, every day things as being "success" -- because everyone achieves them.
But as we think about what "success" means to creating no kill shelters, I think most communities have more in common with those that are successful in being No Kill than they have differences. Your situation is not unique.
Instead of seeing those success stories as something unattainable to you, look at what they've done and recreate it in your own community. If people question what you're doing, ask them what is their authority? If they are promoting a model that has not been successful, or defending a model that is still leading to animals being killed in the shelter, then they need to step aside.
If you are looking to emulate a model that has proven successful, a good place to start is here: Nevada Humane Society's "How we did it!"
Your situation is not unique and there is nothing special about their success, because success is available to you too.
I love the title of this post (and the content too!). Sadly, it seems too many shelter directors are continually re-reading some post called "Failure is available to you".
Posted by: YesBiscuit! | July 08, 2011 at 03:45 PM
I often use a quote of Brent's that's my absolute favorite: "We're killing our way to success".
Posted by: kmk | July 09, 2011 at 07:57 AM